Hinge construction and method of making same



April 1943- .cs. w. ALDEEN 2,315,488

HINGE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed March 13, 1940 G290!WAZdeen/ WA WWW Patented Apr. 6, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HINGE.CONSTRUCTION AND BIETHOD OF MAKING SAME Application March 13, 1940,Serial No. 323,729

Claims.

The invention relates generally to hinges and more particularly tohinges made of sheet metal.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel hinge made ofsheet metal, the leaves of which are secured together by a permanentlyretained pin, which is of inexpensive construction, and which is ofrelatively strong construction.

More specifically it is an object to provide a novel sheet metal hingehaving a single full length hinge pin which is permanently held inposition, and which is of plain construction to facilitate assembly ofthe parts and to hold the cost thereof to a minimum.

Another of the principal objects of the invention is to so construct thehinge that the only operation remaining to perform in the manufacture ofthe hinge, after the two leaves of the hinge are joined, is a simplepressing operation..

Still another object is to so construct the hinge that closed-endpockets or knuckles are formed for the hinge pin to permanently retainthe pin in place, without utilizing any drawing operation in theformation of such pockets.

A further object is to so construct the hinge that, when painted, thepaint will not chip off or crack at adjacent edges of the knuckles ofthe respective leaves.

A still further object is to provide a novel hinge construction withclosed-end pockets for the hinge pin and with a normally concealed meansprovided for draining any solution which may collect in the pocketsduring plating of the hinge.

It is also an object to provide a novel method of making a sheet metalhinge.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Figure l is a perspective view of the blanks from which are formed themembers of a hinge embodying the features of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the hinge members ready for assembly toeach other.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the hingemembers after they are connected together.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to Fig. 3 takenon the line 4-4 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the complete hinge.

Fig. 6 is a rear View of the complete hinge.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 1-1. of Fig.5.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a modified form of hinge.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 99 of Fig. 8.

A hinge of the character herein disclosed is made of sheet metal and isadapted for such uses as for doors of sheet metal or wood cabinets. Inthe particular form illustrated herein the hinge is of the type known asa semi-concealed hinge, that is, a hinge having one leaf adapted to beexposed to view when the door is closed, which leaf may, if desired,have some form of decoration upon it, and a second leaf adapted to bemounted on the door in such a way as to be concealed from view when thedoor is closed. Because of the market in which cabinets of this type aresold, it is desirable to manufacture the hinge at the lowest possiblecost. Moreover, it is desirable to have as strong a hinge as possible,particularly in view of the fact that the leaf or member mounted on theframe of the door is usually of relatively narrow construction.

The hinge illustrated herein, which is designed to meet the foregoingrequirements, has one member, indicated generally at IU, adapted to besecured to the frame of the door. It will be noted that this member isof relatively narrow construction and is also provided with somedecorative features since it is exposed to view at all times. The otherleaf or member, indicated at II, is adapted to be attached to the doorso that it is in a concealed position when the door is closed.Consequently the leaf l I may be bent to fit along the edge of the door,and if desired it may extend to be secured to the rear face thereof.

Since it is desirable to make the hinge as strong as possible, a fulllength pin is utilized, rather than a pair of pins, and such full lengthpin is permanently held in place so that it cannot work loose fromeither of the members. Moreover, the pin is of plain cylindricalconstruction, which costs much less than a headed pin. The leaves ormembers are so constructed as to hold the pin permanently in place, thatis, by providing abutments at the ends of the pin after the pin isinserted. One of the chief features of the invention. lies in theformation of such abutment or closure for the ends of the pin withoutnecessitating any drawing operation in the manufacture of the hingemembers.

Heretofore the manufacture of the hinge member or leaf havingthe outeror end knuckles in- The present invention provides a hinge havingclosed-end pockets or knuckles on the member If) in order to retain thepin in place, but in the manufacture of this member no drawing operationis required, thus materially reducing the.

The invention also contemplates plating cost. the hinge if desired afterit is assembled, and

the closed-end knuckles are so constructed that the solution utilized inplating will readily drain from such knuckles.

V Cabinets on which hinges of this type are used are often painted. Ifthe hinge is also painted, with the usual form of hinge, the paint tendsto cover over the knuckles of the respective leaves or hinge membersinsuch a way that when the door is first moved after the paint has dried,the paint will tend to chip off and break away from the edges ofadjoining knuckles. Obviously this gives an unsightly appearance to thehinge, and it may occur even before the cabinet leaves the factory. Thehinge herein disclosed provides sufficient gap between the knuckles ofthe respective hinge members on the outer face thereof so that the paintwhen applied will not tend to bridge over from one knuckle to the other.Thus when the hinge members are first moved relative to each other,there is no chipping or cracking off of the paint.

In Figs. 1 to '7, inclusive, I have illustrated a hinge of the so-calledthree-knuckle type, that is, a hinge one member of which has two spacedknuckles, and the other hinge member has a single knuckle therebetween.As is clearly shown, particularly in Fig. 5, the hinge member or'leaf ii, which is adapted to be attached to the door, has a knuckle i 2located between and in line with a pair of knuckles IS on the hingemember I9. In forming the hinge member i i, a fiat blank is punched outand is provided with a tongue or extension id, as shown in Fig. 1. Theextension is is then rolled upon itself, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2,to form the knuckle l2. In the same operation, the hinge member ll maybe bent to fit the door. In the present instance two right angle bendsare placed in the'member II, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

In making the hinge member It, a fiat blank is first punched with a pairof extensions l5 which are rolled reversely over the front face of thebase portion of the member ill to provide the knuckles I3. Decorativeforms and holes for retaining devices such as screws or rivets may bemade on the member it? simultaneously with punching the blank.

Each knuckle E3 on the member lil after being rolled to the formillustrated in Fig. 2 is of course open at both of its ends so that thehinge pin, indicated at it, may be inserted. The two leaves are thenplaced together and the pin it inserted from one end to hold the knuckle42 between the two knuckles I3.

It will be noted that the operations thus far include no drawingoperation, and that all the steps in the manufacture are punching androlling operations. Such operations are of a simple character and may beperformed with a minimum of cost, particularly because many of them maybe performed simultaneously.

The finished hinge is so constructed as to permanently retain the pin itin place, and to this end the outer ends of the knuckles [3 are closedafter the pin has been inserted. To accomplish this result, eachextension i5 is provided with a lobe-shaped portion or tongue 25 at itsouter end which is so located as to extend endwise from the outer faceof the knuckle l3, as is shown in Fig. 2. After the pin is inserted, thehinge may be completed merely by pressing or bending down the portions223 over the respective ends of the pins it and against the base portionof the hinge memher it, the result of which operation is apparent froman inspection of Figs. 3 and 4. The portions 2! thus retain the pin inplace and close the pockets within the knuckles l 3. The portions 20 maybe shaped in any manner to provide the desired form after they are bentover the ends of the pin. One common form of binge ends is a bulletshape, and to this end the portions 20 are initiall given an ogivalform, as is clearly apparent in Fig. 1.

Another feature of the invention resides in so formin the hinge that themovable member H, which is attached to the door, will not contact thefram of the door and consequently will not mar it. To this end, the rearface of the knuckles l3 are offset slightly forwardly from the rear faceof the member W, as indicated at 2 i, so that the member I I will beheld in spaced relation to the door frame by the amount of the offset.Since such offset may be made by a simple pressing operation, it may beperformed in the same dies simultaneously with the bending of the endportions 2% over the ends of the pin. Thus this added feature may beembodied in the hinge without increasing the cost of manufacture.

As mentioned above, another feature of the hinge is that it may bepainted and the painted surface of th knuckles will not chip off orcrack the first time the door is moved. It is of course essential in anyhinge to have the knuckles fit closely 'endwise of the hinge to preventendw'ise play of the door. Usually the adjoining end faces of theknuckles of a hinge are made parallel and in substantial contact. Thepaint when applied to such a hinge obviously covers over the crackbetween the adjoining knuckles and upon relative movement of the hingemembers such paint chips off, the chipping extending back over theknuckles for some distance from the intervening crack, givin the hingean unsightly appearance.

To avoid the foregoing difliculty in painting a hinge and yet to providea hinge in which there is no undue play between the knuckles of the respective hinge members, a gap of substantial size is provided betweenadjoining knuckles at the front face thereof in the finished hinge. Atthe sam time no such gap is permitted between the adjoining end faces ofthe knuckles at the rear of the hinge. Play is thus avoided. To providea gap of this'character, the entire knuckle l3, at the time that the endportion 26 is. bent over the end of the pin, is slightly deformed by thesame operation to form a. tapering gap, as illustrated at 22 in Fig. 4.When a hinge of thisconstruction is painted the paint will not bridgeover the gap 22, and consequently when the door is swung, there will beno chipping off of the paint at the front face of the adjoiningknuckles. Thus the neat painted appearance is retained.

In the case of a plated hinge, the pockets within the knuckles it areclosed by the pin I6 and, since the plating is done after the hingemembers are assembled, means is provided to permit the solution utilizedin plating to readily drain therefrom. To this end, small holes 23 arepunched through the base portion of the member l8 underlying the ends26. Thus when the hinge is dipped in the plating solution, none of suchsolution will be retained within the knuckles 53.

As illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, a hinge of this construction lendsitself to the five knuckl type in which three knuckles are provided on ahinge member Hi and two knuckles on the hinge member I i. In this typeof hinge the end knuckles on the member lil are of the same constructionas those heretofore described, while the intermediate knuckle on themember lil is of the simple rolled construction.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a novelsheet metal hinge in which the hinge pin is permanently retained inplace. The hinge is of a very inexpensive construction and yet its partshave a maximum strength. Thus the utilization of a single full lengthpin adds to the strength of the narrow hinge member. As to the cost ofmanufacture, all of the operations required are simple and many may beperformed simultaneously. Particularly it is apparent that no drawingoperation is required in the manufacture of the hinge. The hinge is alsoconstructed so that it may be painted Without danger of the paintchipping off when the hinge members are first moved relative to eachother. It will also be apparent that I have provided a novel method ofmaking a sheet metal hinge.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of making a sheet metal hinge, which comprises punching ablank for one leaf provided with spaced portions adapted to be rolled toform pockets for receiving the ends of a pin with lobe-shaped portionsextending beyond said ends of the pin, placing a rolled knuckle portionof a second leaf between said pockets, inserting a pin into said pocketsand said knuckle portion, and bending said lobe-shaped portions over theends of the pin and by the same operation deforming each of said pocketportions so that the end face thereof is out of parallelism with theadjacent end face of the knuckle portion to provide a relatively widegap therebetween at the front of the hinge.

2. The method of making a sheet metal hinge, which comprises punching ablank for one leaf provided with spaced extensions, rolling saidextensions reversely over the front face of the leaf to provide a pairof pockets, placing a rolled knuckle portion of a second leaf betweensaid pockets, inserting a pin into said knuckle portion and saidpockets, and bending a portion of each of said extensions downwardlyover the adjacent end of the pin and simultaneously offsetting saidpockets forwardly from the plane of said one leaf whereby the secondleaf will be held out of contact with the surface on which said one leafis mounted.

3. A sheet metal hinge comprising a pair of leaves, one leaf having apair of spaced knuckles between which the other leaf fits, and a pinextending through said knuckles to connect the two leaves, the outerends of said knuckles having portions bent against said one leaf toretain the pin in place, said knuckles being offset forwardly from therear face of said one leaf whereby the other leaf is held out of contactwith the surface on which said one leaf is mounted.

4. A sheet metal hinge comprising a pair of leaves, one leaf having apair of spaced knuckles and the other leaf having a knuckle fittingtherebetween, the adjacent end faces of each of said spaced knuckles andthe knuckle on the other leaf diverging from the rear toward the frontto provide a gap between said faces at the front or outer face of thehinge whereby the hinge may be readily painted without the paintbridging over the gap and later peeling off upon turning the hinge.

5. A sheet metal hinge comprising a pair of leaves, one leaf having apair of spaced knuckles and the other leaf having a knuckle fittingtherebetween, and a pin connecting said leaves, the outer ends of saidspaced knuckles having portions bent over the ends of the pin andclosing said knuckles, said one leaf having a pair of holes through theback of the respective knuckles opening into the interior thereof toprovide for drainage of plating solution.

GEDOR W. ALDEEN.

